J^EB. 1. 1894.1 'I'HE TROtiCAL 
AGRiCULTtjRiST. 
sst 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
GIFTS FEOII CEYLON. 
Some months Bgo, in the columns of Sola's 
Journal, I Eaw that Mrs. Sala had received a 
present of a chest of tea from some unknown 
donor in Ceylon, and she apparently was anxious 
to write personally and thank the very kind sender; 
but as no letter reached her with the gilt, the only 
thing she could do was to say "Thank you"' in 
the columns of the journal, and to add that both 
G A. S. and herself deeply appreciated the kind- 
ness. She adds :— "The Ceylon Tea is now being 
daily appreciated and, as we are ' whales ' at tea, 
you may depend upon it that the big case from 
Ceylon received a very warm welcome." The donor 
may not have seen the journal in which the above 
ackaowledgment appeared, and so I insert the 
information here. 
DBYIKG TEA LEAVES BY ELECTBICITT, 
I quote from a weekly paper : — 
"Another nee has been found for electricity. In 
Ceylon experiments have shown that it is more 
economical to dry tea leaves by its agency than by 
the old method, and extensive plants have been 
erected for that purpose." 
On which estates have these extensive plants been 
erected ? You make no mention of them in the 
bs rver, and that is a very unusual thing when a 
piece of news of so highly interesting a nature is 
at your disposal. 
MAZAWATTEE. 
The name of this highly advertized blend of 
tea is becoming more popular every day, and as 
I write, I have before me a paper entitled "Hearth 
and Home" in which appears a picture of a 
lady dressed apparently in a coat of chain mail, 
with a wide piece of Cannanore stuff thrown grace- 
fully over the left shoulder and falling in draperies 
•round h«r, after the style of the clothing in 
which one is arrayed on coming out of a Turkish 
bath. The title of the picture is " Tea-gown for 
Mazawattee." 
INDIAN TEA FREE OF DDIT. 
One of the cries raised by the Ceylon planters 
against the admission of Travancore tea to Ceylon, 
free of duty, is that they fear the indifferent quality 
of the tea, and that it might be reshipped from 
Colombo under the name of Ceylon tea to the detri- 
ment of your colony. As tcuohmg on this subject I 
may mention that, for some time back, I have 
bseu drinking tea, shipped by a Colombo firm, 
the brand of which is " Highfield "—factory 
bulked. Now, according to the " Ceylon Direc- 
tory,'' there is no estate in the island rejoicing 
in that name, but there is a " Highfield Estate" 
in Coorg, and I presume therefore that I have 
been drinking Indian tea of late, and, if such is 
the case, and it is a fair sample of the tea that 
the Travancore planters wish to get into Ceylon 
duty free, I can only say that there is no fear 
of any injury arising to the gODd name of your 
chief product, as the " Highfield " tea is a good 
deal better than a great many samples of pucka 
Ceylon tea that I have tasted. 
. ^ ■ 
I'ROVINCIAL SEASON EEl'OETS FOR 
CEYLON. 
From the ftbatraot of f eason reports for Decembrr mail, 
published in the " Government Gazette," we gsther that 
Bt the Western Provioce paddy crops are progressing 
wbile jak and breadfruit are plentiful, and there is 
DO 8c«roity of other vegetables, though in Hapitigam, 
Korale plantains are scarce and dear owing to drought. 
The crops in the Central, Northern and SoutherQ 
Frovtocies too aio );epoit«U (g bo f^ir j but io (ho 
.10 
North-Weetern Province, though the prospects are 
good, rain has leen short in the Enrnnegala dig- 
triot and the paddy crops are euffering somewhat. 
In the North -Central Province there was slight 
rainfall duriog the month, though most of the tanks 
are full and scarcity of food in some villages itill 
oonticuea. lu the Piovince of I7va korakkan and 
Indian corn are promiting well, except in Battala 
where burabkan plants arc reported to be dieeaeed. 
In the Eintern Province, paddy plants in some pattui 
of the Trinoomalee district are reported damaged 
by rain and flood. Lastly in the Province of Sabara- 
gamiiwa crops are favonrable and the Kegalla district 
is free from cattle disease and the general out~ 
look sat'sfttctory. 
WEEKLY SALES OF PEODUCE IN COLOMBO. 
A new idea so far as Ceylon s concerned and 
one which we believe has met with the general 
approval of the merchants and brokers of Colombo 
is that weekly or fortnightly salexi should be held 
of such produce as coffee, cocoa, cardamoms, 
cinchona bark, &a. The idea originated with Messrs.- 
D~'Tnege, Forsyth & Co. who wrote to the Chamber 
of Commerce about it and in compliance with 
their suggestion a circular was issued resulting, 
as we have said, in a favourable opinion being 
generally expressed. It is considered that these 
public sales would be much more satisfaotory 
both to the buyers and sellers, than the present 
way of disposing of such produce, as buyers would 
kr:ow exactly how the market stands, and sellers 
would be sure to get the best value for their pro- 
duce. It is said that a broker can hardly be 
expected to spend days in negotiating the sale of 
a small lot of cocoa or cardamoms, and unless 
he does so he cannot be sure that he has found 
the best buyer for it. On the other hand 
offerers for such lots do not know to what 
extent their offers may have been inadequate. 
Discussing the matter with one of our repre. 
aentatives, a prominent mercantile gentleman 
said brokers were far too busy attending to 
matters of freight and exchange as well as tea 
sales to continue to spend the great amount of 
time that they now did in going round the 
merchants and endeavouring to sell a small 
parcel of 50 or 60 cwt. of cocoa or 1000 lb. 
of cardamoms. If a broker did not wait upon 
all the firms how was he to know that he had 
secured the best buyer for the produce ? There 
might be several merchants, any one of whom 
might give more for the parcel than he bad 
been offered by those to whom he had shown 
it. Under the present system a purchaser did 
not know whether he had given more for bis 
purchase than he ought, and an offerer whose 
price was not accepted did not know bow 
much too low bis offer was. At a public sale 
a buyer knew exactly bow the market stood, bai 
when he bought privately he did not know whether 
he had paid too much or offered loo little. In the 
ssme way unless a broker sold these things publicly 
he did not know whether he had got the best 
value for the seller or not. If anybody had any 
objection to these public sales, if he was a selley 
it was because he imagined that by private sale 
he occasionally got more than be ought from the 
bujer because the latter did not know the real 
state of the market, and if be was a buyer it was 
because he thought he occasionally got produce 
cheaper than be would if it were sold publicly. It bad 
been suggetted that sellers of such produce would 
put limits upon their lots which there was no obanoa 
of buyers paying at these public sales and that tbere- 
foro (bey would baT« (q bs bought ia 
